Sony has provided a list of all PlayStation 2 games that will work on its PlayStation 3 console in Europe.

The machine launches in the continent on Friday and will be able to play more than 1,700 games designed for the PS2.

Concern was expressed following Sony's decision to run older games through more unreliable emulation software rather than via a dedicated chip.

David Reeves, president of PlayStation in Europe, said the backwards compatibility list was significant.

"We will be adding additional titles to this list in future firmware upgrades," he said.

"But as we have made clear before, in the future our resources will be increasingly focused on developing new services and entertainment features exclusively for PS3, rather than on delivering PS2 backwards compatibility."

Technical problems

Sony has published a website which contains a list of all older games that will work on the PS3 and states if there are any known technical problems when playing the titles.

There are three levels of compatbility for the games that will play - no known issues, some minor issues and noticeable issues.

Recent PS2 titles such as Pro Evolution Soccer 6, God of War II, Final Fantasy XII and Fifa 07 will play but there are likely to be some technical glitches.

Classic games such as Ico, Metal Gear Solid 3 and Grand Theft Auto will also play on the new machine.

In order to play the older games, PlayStation 3 owners will have to update the console's system software, called firmware, either online or via a disk.

More than 115 million PlayStation 2 consoles have been shipped worldwide, and almost two million of its successor were shipped between its launch and the end of December. More than one million PS3 will be available for the European launch.